Tavares Hopes Boat Festival Makes It `Venice Of Florida'

The City Is Pulling Out All The Stops For Its Dragon-boat Race On Lake Dora.

January 17, 2004|By Andrea Perera, Sentinel Staff Writer

TAVARES -- Mount Dora has the arts festival. Leesburg has the bike festival. Umatilla has the black-bear festival.

Now Tavares wants to make the Central Florida Dragon Boat Festival its marquee event.

Most of the time, when people think of Tavares, they think of Lake County's center of government.

But T. J. Fish, planning manager for Tavares, said he wants Tavares to be known for the waterways that surround it -- Lake Dora, Lake Eustis, Lake Harris and the Dora Canal.

"We have forever been known as just the county seat," Fish said. "We want to be known as the Venice of Florida."

Last year, the dragon-boat festival brought 5,000 people to Hickory Point on Lake Harris. In its second year this March, organizers expect 10,000 people to turn out at Wooton Park on the shores of Lake Dora.

Considering Tavares only has about 9,700 residents,the festival has become a major draw. That's why the Tavares Rotary Club, which created the event, decided to purchase a fleet of 700-pound, 50-foot-long boats from Dalian, China. Each boat is decorated with colorful scales, dragon heads and tails.

Glennys Barber, 63, first heard about dragon-boat racing in 2001 at a conference for Rotary Club presidents in Toronto. Another Rotary Club has sponsored a dragon-boat competition and used the registration fees for fund raising.

At first, the Tavares Rotary decided to sponsor the event to raise money for its own chapter. But the club ended up putting most of what it earned back into paying the costs of putting on the festival, which includes lion dancers, traditional Asian music, crafts and food.

"It's not a money-making enterprise" for the Rotary Club or Tavares, Fish said.

Barber said the festival, and the four hours of training that go with it, has become less about money and more about having fun outdoors. The race allows families, local government officials and businesses such as Publix, SunTrust Bank, Yoga Central and Covanta Energy to build teamwork on the water.

Last year, 22 teams, each with 22 members, competed. More than 40 teams already have committed to this year's race.

The Rotary is so encouraged by the participation, there are plans to form a local dragon-boat-racing club.

Tavares officials have shown their support for the festival by providing some staffing for the March 19 event. They also have agreed to chip in $70,000 for a portable dock system that will help launch the boats.

Florida Trading Co., a boat manufacturer in Tavares, made the dock so that it can be reconfigured into a stage, which can be used for the city's Fourth of July fireworks display or concerts at Wooton Park. Fish said the dock was a worthy investment because the city can use it for other events.

"We didn't spend the $70,000 just for the dragon-boat festival," Fish said.

Dragon-boat racing originated in Asia but has become popular in many North American cities such as Seattle, Toronto, Boston and Montreal.

Steve Barber, 51, who drove the boats on a big rig 2,800 miles from Spokane, Wash., where they were delivered, to Tavares, said the sport is popular because it gives all sorts of people the chance to overcome a challenge as a team.

"It's a chance for businesses to take blue- and white-collar workers -- people who never see each other -- to get on a boat and work together," he said.